Police Terror Cash Boasts Slammed

A police sergeant has been criticised for sending emails to colleagues offering bumper overtime payments to pay for luxury holidays and wide-screen TVs.

Thames Valley Police's £5m overtime bonanza came thanks to Britain's biggest terror hunt when police searched woods near High Wycombe, Bucks.

Sergeant David Bald's emails to colleagues in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, and Wolverton offered "premium rates" of pay to those "with a raging credit card habit".

Volunteers were told that night shifts, believed to be paid at £300 a time, required "little effort, no paper-work and a restful time away from the stresses and strains of everyday life".

But police chiefs have taken a dim view of his boasts, and said they were in "poor taste".

A Thames Valley Police spokesman: "The emails that are referred to are unacceptable and do not reflect the attitude of police officers as a whole.

"They were misguided and written in poor taste and recalled as soon as senior officers became aware of them."

He told Sky News Online that Sgt Bald had not been punished for his actions, but had been "spoken to and given advice".

One message, called "108 shopping days to Christmas", sought officers for Saturday shifts and said the money "could buy the joy and admiration of your children on Christmas morning . . . is that not priceless?"

The internal e-mails sought volunteers to search King's Wood and Fennels Wood as part of Operation Overt into an alleged terrorist plot to blow up passenger planes.

The operation cost Thames Valley Police £8m, including £4.9m in overtime.After the end of the liquid bomb plot trial, it was revealed that police chiefs had resisted pressure from Thames Valley Police Authority to call off the searches, which it said were too expensive.

The spokesman confirmed: "Operation Overt necessitated Thames Valley Police providing hundreds of police officers to play a part in what was a hugely important investigation over a period of around six months.

"The Force deployed officers from their usual Thames Valley postings for 5184 working days, at an opportunity cost of £1.4m.

"This put a strain on the policing of local communities and therefore overtime, at a cost of £4.9m was used, as well as assistance from other forces (at a cost of £1.9m).